Starting tomorrow and continuing through the month of October, TCM will partner with Women in Film Los Angeles to focus on the women behind the camera with their much-anticipated Trailblazing Women programming. Spanning from the earliest days of cinema to the present day, TCM and WIF will present a diverse array of viewing choices that highlight some of the most noteworthy films honoring women’s role in the shaping the history of Hollywood.
Co-hosted by film historian Cari Beauchamp (be sure to read her fascinating essay on Trailblazing Women here), actress Illeana Douglas, director Amy Heckerling and several other notable women in Hollywood, the series will kick off with early films of Lois Weber, Alice Guy-Blaché and Frances Marion, including a showing of the first film ever directed by a woman, Alice Guy-Blaché’s La Fée aux choux (1896).
La Fée aux choux (1896).
The full schedule can be found here. If you’re unsure what to look for, please be sure to read the editorial by my good friend, employee of Rotten Tomatoes and expert on women in film, Marya E. Gates. Marya has spent the past year watching solely films directed by women, and has written a thorough rundown of all the highlights of TCM’s programming.
The programming will air on Tuesdays and Thursdays in TCM’s prime time spots. In this era when women are still shockingly underpaid and undervalued in the industry, it is a key time to bring these issues to the forefront in a meaningful way, and this programming is the perfect way to do just that.
Frances Marion and Mary Pickford.
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Backlots 
I’m really looking forward to this feature on TCM. It’ll bring a lot of issues of inequality in Hollywood and hopefully be apart of the big picture with shining a light on women as creative forces.
Me too. It’s great so far!